Smoothie Recipes from Mens Health Magazine

Wake Up With the Shakes
Throw together these blender breakfasts and you can fight cancer, prevent heart disease, and fill up fast

Not only is there no free lunch, there's no free breakfast or dinner, either. Everything you eat has a price--in cash, calories, or useless fat--starting with your first meal of the day. Want to come out ahead when you're barely out of bed? Take a blender, 90 seconds, and a few ingredients, and you can drink more good food at breakfast than most guys eat all day.

We've come up with five healthy smoothies, one for each workday. Each one targets a different problem. They'll help keep you energized, increase your brainpower, protect you from cancer, fight heart disease, and even help you recover from a binge. And they're a breeze to make: Just dump in the ingredients, blend for a minute or two, decant (optional), and drink.

Prostate Protector

This soy-milk-based concoction provides a hefty dose of genistein, a compound that can prevent prostate cancer and an enlarged prostate. Ruby-red grapefruit contains lycopene, the nutrient that reduces prostate-cancer risk by as much as 35 percent. And according to a recent Swiss study, the combination of lycopene and vitamin E (that's what the wheat germ's for) inhibits prostate-cancer cell growth by nearly 90 percent.

The ground flaxseed in this mix attacks bad (LDL) cholesterol with fiber (6 grams per 1/4 cup) and lots of omega-3 fatty acids. Every gram or two of soluble fiber you eat each day lowers your ldl by about 1 percent, and omega-3s lower heart-attack risk by more than 50 percent. (Ground flaxseed is sold in health-food stores and some supermarkets.) This shake will also supply nearly half your rda of potassium, which helps prevent high blood pressure.

When the finish line is 10 kilometers away, you need to draw on more carbohydrates than your morning bowl of Froot Loops provided. You also need protein and fat. In a recent study, cyclists who drank a prerace beverage consisting of four parts carbohydrates and one part protein cycled 66 percent farther than when they quaffed an all-carbohydrate sports drink. And when researchers added a little extra fat to runners' diets, they lasted 23 percent longer on endurance runs than they did on a low-fat diet.

You could down a cup of coffee to jump-start your brain. But caffeine depletes your stores of B vitamins, the very nutrients you need to keep your mind sharp. Instead, feed your head with this recipe. Not only does it provide those badly needed Bs, it delivers a shot of protein to help produce the wake-up chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine. The milk in the mix contains choline to help fire up your memory. Along with the vitamin C in the fruit and OJ, choline can also help prevent the mental deterioration associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Use this liquid meal to fight alcohol-induced dehydration. It's loaded with vitamin C to help combat binge-related cell damage, and the fructose in the fruit juices helps speed the metabolism of liquor. Upset stomach? The ginger in ginger ale will help quell the motion sickness caused by your spinning bedroom. And some experts say the acidophilus bacteria in the yogurt may get your gut back in chemical balance.